What is changing?
• You currently pay 6 percent in registration duties in Flanders for your own and only home. But that is now about to change. The Flemish government announces a new regulation that will reduce the registration fees to 3 percent. In concrete terms: are you buying an apartment worth 200,000 euros to live in, and you do not own another home? Then you will soon pay 6,000 euros in registration fees instead of 12,000.
• There is less good news for those who own several homes. Today you still pay 10 percent in registration fees for, for example, a second home, but soon you will pay 12 percent for that. So do you buy a house for 300,000 euros as a second home? Then you will soon pay 36,000 euros in registration fees instead of 30,000 euros.
• For major renovations that lead to the highest EPC, the registration fees will decrease from 5 to 1 percent.
Why is the Flemish government carrying out this reform?
By lowering the registration fees for the first home from 6 to 3 percent, the government wants to give young buyers a boost. By just raising them when buying a second – or third or fourth – the government just wants to get extra money in the drawer. The overall operation would be positive for the budget.
At the start of this term of office, the government already carried out a thorough reform of housing taxation. For example, the housing bonus (a tax benefit that continues for years after the purchase, RW) abolished, but instead registration duties (a tax that you pay immediately upon purchase, RW) simplified. The double rate of 5 and 10 percent that existed depending on the cadastral income was reduced to one rate for the first home: 6 percent. The government is now moving forward with that reform.
What do we know about the September Declaration?
In total, the Flemish government must save 900 million euros. It is striking that the job bonus is implemented in full as agreed in the coalition agreement. Anyone who earns 1,700 euros gross will receive a net premium of 50 euros on a monthly basis.
For example, the Flemish government wants to increase the difference between working and not working and help more people find work. The bonus decreases as the wage increases, to disappear completely for those who earn more than 2,500 euros gross. “The focus is really on the lowest wages,” it sounds in the government. Cost: 350 million euros. The service checks are also not affected.
At the Welfare Department, Minister Wouter Beke (CD&V) must save on the ‘growth package’, the new name for child benefit. It will rise less quickly than originally planned. While an increase of 2 percent was foreseen, it will now be only 1 percent. The social allowances do increase according to the agreed rhythm. The Education Department would have to make do with 100 million euros less, although it is still unclear exactly where the savings lie. Consultation with umbrella organizations and trade unions is still necessary for this, according to the government.
It is not illogical to look at both departments. They manage by a large margin the largest budgets of the Flemish government. Finally, the government has also decided to phase out the premiums that companies receive for hiring people from certain target groups. This concerned, for example, people over 55, people with a disability or young people. The criteria are now being adjusted, but it has not yet been decided how this will be done.
At 2 p.m. today, Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon will make the September Declaration in parliament, containing the main lines of his policy for the coming working year. Immediately afterwards, the government will also provide an explanation of the budget figures and the new measures.
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